Mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras have come a long way in only a few years. And after gradually layering on new features and capability, they’ve finally reached an apex in Sony’s new A7 and A7r models, both of which sport that big and beautiful bastion of image quality—the full-frame sensor.
     |
On a May evening, in a cramped biergarten behind a German restaurant off the Bowery in Manhattan, Takeru Kobayashi sat down to a plate of Rheinischer Sauerbraten mit Kartoffelklößen und Rotkraut. First, he produced a small camera and began photographing the sauerbraten for his blog, where he catalogs his personal gustatory experiences. He was dressed in yellow pants, a summer scarf, and a blazer with multicolored markings resembling graffiti. Some nearby diners looked up when the camera flashed, but Kobayashi, the great Kobayashi, went unrecognized, in the city where he became a celebrity.
| |
Google may be getting Glass’s fashion situation under control by partnering with Warby Parker, but Glass’s potential to be dangerously distracting still seems like a problem. And where there’s a problem, West Virginian legislators know to step in with preemptive regulation. Apparently. More »
Sometimes Gotham gets the hero it deserves, but not the one it needs right now. And sometimes that hero doesn’t get the hint that it’s time to go ahead and leave already, before everybody gets blown to bits with him. More »
Facebook’s Q3 earnings left something to be desired, as the social network posted a net loss. Zuckerberg and company have ended 2012 on a financial high note, however, as Facebook raked in $1.585 billion in revenue — an increase of 40 percent year-over-year — and net income of $64 million. The number of folks on Facebook also continues to grow, with its monthly active user count burgeoning to 1.06 billion as of December 31, 2012.
Of particular interest is the breakdown of daily mobile vs. web users — more folks used Facebook on phones and tablets than on the web for the first time in the company’s history. Revenue generated from mobile isn’t commensurate with the usage stats, however. Mobile advertising accounted for just 23 percent of the ‘book’s total ad revenue, though that is an increase from 14 percent in Q3, so that imbalance may not remain much longer. We’ll be listening in on the earnings call and updating things here as more details are revealed, so stay tuned.
This Christmas, you’ll have your pick of not one but two righteously depressing movies hitting the theaters. But between Django Unchained and Les Miserables, who’s the saddest sack of all? Samuel L. Jackson and Anne Hathaway try to settle this once and for all. More »
You think David Blaine is bad? It could be worse. You could be stuck with the Middle Earth street magic stylings of Gandalf. Where’s your ring of invisibility when you need it? More »
I’ve done it. You’ve done it. Your friends have done it. Why, we whine doesn’t MTV play music videos anymore? And it’s true! They don’t. It’s just a big seething crap reality tv show pile-on. But you know what? As the (not really) head of MTV programming tells you himself, it’s your own damn fault. More »
Ever wondered why those crazy fools at Facebook think it’s a good idea to meddle with the timeline, or how you chat? Well you can blame yourself. Probably. The social network’s Director of Engineering, Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, reveals all in a recent blog post. By first explaining that the site evolves in a two-step process, “technology pushes people to move forward and then people move past technology and it has to catch up,” we can start to understand why constant user testing of new, often multiple, solutions is required. Boz goes on to explain that by using select groups, or even nations, the efficacy new features can not only be quickly, and solidly determined, it can actually supplant the need for weeks of boardroom debate. He goes on to say that the odds are that everyone on Facebook has been part of a test at some point. Curious to know more about the process, or just feeling a little bit used? Head over to the source link for the full post / comment thread.
Filed under: Internet
Facebook’s Director of Engineering explains how you’re part of the dev team originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 08:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
The Verge | 
Facebook’s Engineering Blog | Email this | Comments
Facebook revealed its Q1 earnings in an SEC filing leading up to its big IPO earlier this year, but it’s now officially out with its first earnings report as a public company. For Q2 of 2012, it brought in $1.18 billion in revenue, up 32 percent year-over-year and slightly better than what analysts were expecting, while GAAP net income sat at a loss of $157 million (down from a profit of $240 million a year ago). Looking at things on a non-GAAP basis, though, net income is actually up from $285 million to $295 million.
What’s more, the company also confirmed that it has 955 million monthly active users (or what it calls MAUs) as of the end of June, up 29 percent year-over-year. As you can see in the chart after the break, those users are distributed fairly evenly across the world, including 186 million in the US and Canada, 246 million in Europe, 255 million in Asia, and 268 million elsewhere. Daily active users totaled 552 million for the same time period, up 32 percent year-over-year, while mobile users now stand at 543 million, up 67 percent from last year. Not surprisingly, a huge chunk — 84 percent — of the company’s revenue comes from advertising, which brought in $992 million for the quarter, an increase of 28 percent from last year. That apparently wasn’t enough to please investors, though, who have sent the company’s stock to a new low of less than $25 (down over ten percent) in after hours trading.
Update: Expectedly, the ever-recurring topic of a Facebook phone came up during the Q&A portion of the company’s earnings call, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg didn’t avoid the issue entirely. While not completely dismissing recent rumors of an HTC-built phone, Zuckerberg did say that building a whole phone “really wouldn’t make much sense for us to do.”
Filed under: Internet
Facebook posts first earnings as a public company: $1.18 billion in revenue, 955 million users originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Facebook | Email this | Comments
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
